Gay book ban goal of state
lawmaker
The Birmingham News
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
KIM CHANDLER
News staff writer
MONTGOMERY - An Alabama lawmaker who sought to ban gay
marriages now wants to ban novels with gay characters from public
libraries, including university libraries.
A bill by Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, would prohibit the
use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library
materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an
acceptable lifestyle." Allen said he filed the bill to protect
children from the "homosexual agenda."
"Our culture, how we know it today, is under attack from every
angle," Allen said in a press conference Tuesday.
Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay
protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is
natural would have to be removed from library shelves and
destroyed.
"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he
said.
A spokesman for the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law
Center called the bill censorship.
"It sounds like Nazi book burning to me," said SPLC spokesman
Mark Potok.
Allen pre-filed his bill in advance of the 2005 legislative
session, which begins Feb. 1.
If the bill became law, public school textbooks could not
present homosexuality as a genetic trait and public libraries
couldn't offer books with gay or bisexual characters.
When asked about Tennessee Williams' southern classic "Cat On
A Hot Tin Roof," Allen said the play probably couldn't be
performed by university theater groups.
Allen said no state funds should be used to pay for materials
that foster homosexuality. He said that would include nonfiction
books that suggest homosexuality is acceptable and fiction novels
with gay characters. While that would ban books like "Heather has
Two Mommies," it could also include classic and popular novels
with gay characters such as "The Color Purple," "The Picture of
Dorian Gray" and "Brideshead Revisted."
The bill also would ban materials that recognize or promote a
lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual
misconduct laws of Alabama. Allen said that meant books with
heterosexual couples committing those acts likely would be
banned, too.
His bill also would prohibit a teacher from handing out
materials or bringing in a classroom speaker who suggested
homosexuality was OK, he said.
Allen has sponsored legislation to make a gay marriage ban
part of the Alabama Constitution, but it was not approved by the
Legislature.
Ken Baker, a board member of Equality Alabama, a gay rights
organization, said Allen was "attempting to become the George
Wallace of homosexuality."
Aside from the moral debates, the bill could be problematic
for library collections, said Jaunita Owes, director of the
Montgomery City-County Library, which is a few blocks from the
Alabama Capitol.
"Half the books in the library could end up being banned. It's
all based on how one interprets the material," Owes said.
E-mail: kchandler@bhamnews.com
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